Joe Biden: “Tonight the people of Ohio delivered a gigantic victory for the middle class with their overwhelming rejection of a Republican attempt to strip away collective bargaining rights. Fundamental fairness has prevailed. By standing with teachers and firefighters and cops, Ohio has sent a loud and clear message that will be heard all across the country: The middle class will no longer be trampled on. The people of Ohio are to be congratulated.”

Steve Benen: Going into Election Day 2011, the conventional wisdom said that voters would offer some clues about prevailing political attitudes and what’s to come in 2012. As the dust settles on last night’s results, if the conventional wisdom is right, Republican optimism about next year is badly misplaced.

From coast to coast, Democrats and progressive goals not only won, but in most instances, won big. Some of the highlights….

4:15: The President holds a bilateral meeting with President Silva of Portugal.

8:35 PM: Delivers remarks at the National Women’s Law Center’s annual awards dinner.

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Thanks Ladyhawke

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Father of the year Joe Walsh’s meltdown:

Thanks Loriah

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Aaaaaaaaw!

Bloomberg: The Senate President of Arizona and author of the state’s hard-line laws against illegal immigration lost a recall election seen as a bellwether on “extreme” politics.

Republican Russell Pearce, lost by 53 percent to 45 percent with all precincts reported, according to the Maricopa County Elections office. Pearce, 64, was defeated by Jerry Lewis, a Republican school administrator who has said he opposes Pearce’s enforcement-only approach to immigration policy.

“There is a deep dissatisfaction in Arizona for what is viewed as politics in the extreme,” said Earl de Berge of the Phoenix-based Behavior Research Center, a nonpartisan polling company. Pearce “symbolizes a very hard-nosed view on conservative policies.” The loss will show moderates that they can win in the state, de Berge said. “It is going to be a sea change in Arizona,” he said.

What the hell was wrong with the tea party deadbeat Dad? So he is tired of people going after the banks. Well I’m tired of creeps like Walsh going after the government. The government is not the big bad boogyman that these tea party creeps are trying to make it out to be. It’s not perfect, but it does do alot of good things.

That’s why I think we need to continue working like we are 20 points behind. There can be no time to rest now. I remember right after PBO’s election, all you heard at the Orange Satan that Republicans were going to be in the wilderness for the next 30 to 40 years. There was a guy there, although he could be annoying that kept saying that the time was now to work harder, and every time he said that he got piled on.

Last night, Kos started a narrative on twitter saying that while voters knocked GOP for overreaching, they weren’t endorsing anything Dems yet. I tweeted him back and asked if they were going to be endorsoing the GOP.

Great idea, Jovie, but why don’t we do it HERE? Chips, what do you say? DonnaD4O, how about it? a4Alice? If the Repubs can automatically do a fundraiser on every incident, negative (Cain’s allegations/’You lie’ comment/etc) or positive (???) and rake in thousands of dollars, why can’t we try here at TOD? Wouldn’t it be possible to set things up in such a way that we can money bomb at every little opportunity? And we all admit that last night was not ‘little’! Somebody once mentioned that they used to money bomb at OFA using fun incentives. Chips, is that a possibility here? We could have two streams :

i) Joyful -, like last night

2)Righteous anger – like when dems are unsupportive (though not so much these days); when a dem makes the wrong ‘no’ vote; or…

I’ve notice how the media haven’t said to much about last night election. Why? Because things went pretty good for Democrats and the media would love for things to have gone bad for the Dems, so they can say that this shows you how bad things will be for the President in 2012. But they can’t say that, so they ignore it.

It’s time for the Dems to start promoting the payroll tax (which is saving America right now) and how badly we need (No Bush tax cuts included). We also need to start promoting HCR again, because the debates and Repub primaries are coming up and it looks like it’s going to be the only thing they run on.

HCR is important. For all the good news last night, there was a ballot initiative about a constitutional amendment in OH to opt out of HCR, which won by a high margin.

Now, listening to OH Dem officials yesterday, this initiative did not have a coordinated message like Issue 2 did and there may have been some confusion (vote “no”? vote “yes”?) . That being said it was not messaged properly and looks bad for Dem’s and the President. I’m not watching news today — I would think Republicans would be making serious hay out of that.

But it was an extremely important night. We need to put serious muscle behind this momentum, the way Republicans do. This was the first post OWS test and I am glad to see a few things: that energy showing up in the voting booth despite the insane whining of people like Michael Moore; and Democrats starting to understand the institutional and generational fight ahead of us. Fighting for the NC school board and winning — THAT is how we reclaim this country back from the loons. Because one terrifying lesson I hope the Left is finally getting: it doesn’t work to put all of our hopes in Santa Claus/Messiah in the White House. as if even the best President in the world can solve all of our problems. Nothing substantive happens until we do the grunt, institutional work of reclaiming school boards, municipalities, etc. We need to put down serious, political, left-leaning roots in every community in America. That’s how Republicans did it. It’s what must happen from the Left.

57andFemale, I heard that they didn’t think of it as a big deal because the whole thing is going to the Supreme Court. The decision will be made there and if it pass the Supreme Court, it will be law in Ohio too.

A year after Republicans swept legislatures across the country, voters in Ohio delivered their verdict Tuesday on a centerpiece of the conservative legislative agenda, striking down a law that restricted public workers’ rights to bargain collectively.

The landslide vote to repeal the bill — 62 percent to 38 percent, according to preliminary results from Ohio’s secretary of state — was a slap to Gov. John R. Kasich, a Republican who had championed the law as a tool for cities to cut costs. The bill passed in March on a wave of enthusiasm among Republicans fresh from victories. A similar bill also passed in Wisconsin.

Across the country, several other Republican-backed measures were also dealt setbacks, including a crackdown on voting rights in Maine.

In Mississippi, voters rejected an amendment to the State Constitution that would have banned virtually all abortions and some forms of birth control by declaring a fertilized human egg to be a legal person.

The Ohio vote gave a new lease on life to public sector labor unions in Ohio, which had been under tremendous pressure to get the bill repealed. Failure would have brought not only the loss of most of their bargaining rights, including the right to strike, but would also have called into question what had long been their central strength — their ability to organize and deliver votes.

Labor leaders said their victory contained an important message for Republicans.

“Attacking education and other public employees is not at all what the public wants to see,” said Karen M. White, political director of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest public sector union. “It should resonate with politicians that they’ve gone too far.”

Let’s see how the media spins yesterday’s result…last year at this time..they (the media, emoprogs, GOP) were all on a major high from the “shellacking” that the Democrats, well…er President Obama in particular, received. President Obama was gleefully declared on all sides (left, right and center media and blogosphere) a lame duck, one-term President. Mitch McConnell proudly and boldly stepped on the podium and told the American people that their one and only objective was to ensure that PBO was a one-term President, with zero outrage or pushback from the media.

While we Obamabots were probably feeling deflated and frustrated, Mr. & Ms. Karma were quietly and resolutely taking notes….

You know they are going to be spinning like tops. If the tea party ideas and candidates won, they would continue their CW from the past few days that this election would give us an idea how people will vote next year. Now they are probably scrambling for how to spin this as good for Repugs. And of course PBO is doooomed!!!

For months, Gov. Chris Christie traveled around the country collecting political I.O.U’s for himself and millions of dollars for the state Republican Party.

He recorded campaign commercials for a few Republicans with a chance of edging their Democratic opponents. He held high-priced fundraisers for them, and in the final days of the campaign he made a handful of public appearances at diners and news conferences.

But it was hardly a full-court press, and the results were disappointing for Republicans. Christie, who followed the election returns at Drumthwacket, the governor’s mansion in Princeton, did not visit any campaign headquarters.

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For months, the election in New Jersey held little allure for Christie. After losing the battle over redistricting — something he tried and failed to influence — the fate of the Legislature was largely a foregone conclusion.

As a result, he will spend the next two years the same way he spent the first two — with a Democrat-controlled Legislature.

it was a good night for our country…a good night indeed….the President’s message to the people of America is sinking in,…We have put on our Marching shoes….we are not going to go back….

but there is still so much more work to be done….

This morning….at 5:30am ESt…before i had my first sip of coffee..i watched a TV ad promoted by a right wing group…Crossroads…

it started with the notion of 2 Presidents…Clinton and Barack Obama…..has a clip of Clinton talking about this is the not the time to be raising taxes….shows the President emphatically saying PASS the Bill….

So the right is using Clinton to hammer the President…..but the ad does not say that the JOBS bill includes tax cuts for Middle Class families and small businesses…or about the tax credits for hiring veterans…..

i am so maddddddddddddd i could spit…..first…Clinton….needs to shut the hell up….

another issue….

i got a robo call from him urging me to vote…he introduced himself as President Bill Clinton…..duhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…..he is NOT the President …and everyone including himself needs to stop referring to him as such…GRRRRRRRRrrrrrrr…

Actually, Clinton has already denounced this clip which edited out of context what he said – so I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Furthermore, PBO’s words carry much much more weight than Bill Clinton’s, despite what some in the MSM and PL want you to believe.

I hear ya. Completely. And if Bill Clinton is going to call himself ‘President’ perhaps he should have respect for the office and not be the low-rent egomaniac he is, trying to damage POTUS. After all, let’s seriously compare records. If Obama has not been able to do everything he wanted to do, Bill Clinton actually did systemic damage: welfare reform, Telecom bill (which turned over the media to the Right), and repeal of Glass-Steagall along with other financial ‘reforms’. He put privatization on steroids. DADT may have been the best we could have hoped for at that time, but it wasn’t good.

Obama has not been able to accomplish everything but he hasn’t done damage. That’s more than I can say for Bill Clinton.

And when the history books are written, I predict that the kind of low-rent, barely veiled racial attacks against Obama by the Clintons are what opened the door to the massive disrespect shown to this President by Republicans. I will never forgive them for that.

One thing I respect about G.W. Bush, and there isn’t much, but he has left the WH and we haven’t heard or seen him that much. Part of that could be he didn’t want to remind folks to much of the mess he lefted. But maybe it wouldn’t hurt ex- President Clinton to shut his mouth alittle more.

I keep thinking how all the election money spent trying to defeat one another could be used to put people to work. Not sure how but the endless commercials, robocalls etc that money is spent on seems such a waste. I guess those rich companies figure buying their candidates ensures them less taxes and more influence.

Through their web of political influence, billionaire political operatives Charles and David Koch have bought access to democracy’s lifeblood: free and fair elections. The Kochs have funded efforts to thwart 21 million Americans from voting and Koch dollars helped write and propose voting suppression bills in 38 states.

84% Of White Working Class Americans Side With Obama On Taxing The Rich

According to a new Wall Street Journal poll, 84% of white working class Americans agree with this statement,

“The current economic structure of the country is out of balance and favors a very small proportion of the rich over the rest of the country. America needs to reduce the power of major banks and corporations and demand greater accountability and transparency. The government should not provide financial aid to corporations and should not provide tax breaks to the rich.”

62% of those are Republicans and even 53% of Tea Party supporters agree with that statement. This is not a good indicator for the current crop of GOP candidates and elected officials who trumpet the notion of tax breaks for the 1%.

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The conservatives have used the excuse of tax breaks for the wealthy for 30 years in order to create jobs, when the investor class doesn’t care about taxes; they just want to exploit labor, which is the highest cost to a company.

John Kasich was stunned, but unfazed. John Kasich was accommodating, but resolute. John Kasich was swooningly democratic, but singularly authoritarian. In short, Kasich was vintage Kasich.

“The people have spoken clearly,” said the Ohio governor at a news conference in Columbus last night, where one could almost hear the tumbrels bouncing along the cobbled route to the GOP’s doom. The people … spoke … clearly. And what was it, according to the oleaginous Kasich, that they said? “They might have said it was too much too soon.”…..

the fact that he said “it was too much too soon” means that he hasn’t heard the people at all. He’s just regrouping. I heard on the radio this morning that him and his republicans cohorts in the Assembly might come back in 2012 to propose some of the initiatives hat were more popular, like making public workers pay 15% of their health care costs, and other measures. So, they’re not giving up, and those Ohio voters better stay vigilant.

That may be good for the 2012 elections and encourage high turnout once the middle class and unions are made aware and reminded often that the battle may have been won yesterday but the war continues and they have to fight at the ballot box.

Sadly he represents my district, but not for long, redistricted out—–planning to run in neighboring district against fellow teabagger. He’s what happens when sane, normal people don’t show up to vote in midterm elections. He is so crazy and so unhinged and so immoral, he should not be allowed anywhere near our government.

Walsh is only in this seat because Melissa Bean was a spineless Democrat who ran from the President instead of explaining to her constituents what benefits they were receiving from his Presidency and from a Democratic Congress. She was awful and look what they got in return.

Disagree—–she was a big supporter and friend of Obama. She was at every single Obama meet-up that I attended, always spoke very highly of him, campaigned for him. She had some blue dog votes because she had some business support here in this diverse district, tried to represent the interests of all, but she voted with the president on almost all of the key votes. She took some hits for that—-like on the health care vote—-at the height of the tea party furor. I canvassed for her, trying to prevent the teabagger Walsh who was making outrageous statements and had a shameful history. But it was a freak election, no one saw it coming till it was too late. She got no support from Dem Party and more teabaggers showed up to vote, too many others just blew it off, Walsh won by a few votes.

I love how that lady reacted to him. She was calm and firm. She also suggested he needed decaf. I’d say he needs some type of meds, but I’m no doctor.
Then he tells someone to shut up? Wasn’t he addressing constituents? Isn’t the idea to meet with them to talk?

Chipsticks you are so right. I have heard of lots of men who owe child support going to jail. Well why isn’t this dead beat Dad in jail or made to pay that child support one. dotster3 I feel sorry for you, I know you can’t wait to get rid of that dead beat Dad.

Benen has written this post several times. And, I post it every time because he presents THE FACTS. Just like that Pew study covering the KIND of coverage that the President receives. I think it’s important, when folks have taken the time to gather the numbers, that they be posted as often as possible. So, that when you slam the MSM for their slant, you can go say, ‘ go read Steve Benen – he’s kept up with the numbers, unlike you.’ Cause, they will lie and say that there IS no imbalance in how the ACA has been covered, which we know is a CROCK.

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November 09, 2011 8:35 AM

How health care rulings are covered

By Steve Benen

Regular readers may recall an ongoing feature in which I compare coverage of health care court rulings from several major media outlets. Given yesterday’s developments, it’s time to revisit the subject.

To briefly review, there were five major lower-court rulings that evaluated the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act on the merits, three sided with the Obama administration and two sided with ACA opponents. As I documented, rulings in support of the law generally received scant attention from the Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, and the Associated Press, while rulings against the law were literally treated as front-page news.

Indeed, it hasn’t even been close. In every instance, conservative rulings received more coverage, longer articles, and better placement.

Now we have three federal appeals courts that have considered cases on the merits: the 6th Circuit ruled in support of the health care law in June; the 11th Circuit ruled against it in August; and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit backing the law yesterday. Keep in mind, yesterday’s ruling even offered an added hook: not only was this ruling seen as a precursor to the U.S. Supreme Court, but it also featured one of the federal judiciary’s most far-right judges siding with the Obama administration.

With that in mind, once again, let’s put the media coverage in context:……

A question for Keith, or any others here in Ohio – Were there folks outside the polling stations collecting signatures to block the Ohio redistricting gerrymander? If Dems can get 250K signatures than the gerrymander is essentially blocked and redistricting would go to the courts – and it they were on the up and up it could be a 3 seat swing for national House Dems.

It’s a great morning in the neighborhood! Love that comic about the KOCH CAIN / GOP this morning…how perfect is that! I believe there will be a little spring in my step today!
I wanted to let all of you know that I went to Ben Quayle’s town hall last night. I was unable to ask him a question, the lines were long…and PRECISELY at 8pm, he looked at his watch and said, “OH, time to stop…we have a hard stop time here.” Leaving many constituents left with their concerns unanswered…they were told to fill out a postcard and his people would be in touch:) I would have thought that he would have just offered to take questions outside the venue so that every voice could be heard…silly me!
I was interested in the audience response to him, however. Lots of folks there were on the legalize marijuana kick…though we DID pass a measure to legalize medical MJ, that is kind of gummed up for the moment.
He spouted the regular RW talking points….there was something on the projector regarding what they have done about jobs…but nobody could read it….jibberish, since they have done nothing.
One very old man got to ask a question and told Ben that he was SO HAPPY that he voted NOT to raise the debt ceiling….”the govt spends too much money!” Well, on the way out, I grabbed the guy ( in his 8o’s…and his 2 friends) and I asked him if he was the man that commented about the debit ceiling? He said he was. I said, ” You look like a responsible person, one that owns up to his responsibilities.Why then would you want a vote that didn’t allow the US to pay for the bills that it has already incurred? You DO understand that raising the debt ceiling simply means that the US agrees to pay the PAST bills, and does NOT mean raising the limit on the credit card?”
BLANK STARE. VACANT LOOK. 2 FRIENDS SHAKING THEIR HEADS , NO.

“Well, the govt spends too much money!!!!”
“Do you like clean water? Safe neighborhoods? Clean air? Postal service? etc….Do you have SS and Medicare?
“No, I don’t HAVE SS/Medicare…I have the VA! (Priceless!)
“Really, you use the VA? What do you think THAT IS???!!! It’s the GOVT! I thanked him for his service, but told him in the kindest way possible that he really needed to bone up on his facts . He kept mumbling that we’re going to be the next Greece. (FOX is POISON…when on earth will these folks realize that they are being dooped?)

Maybe I gave the man something to think about.

There were others that were very moving…home foreclosures, losing jobs, (he seems so divorced from the plight of real Americans…it was very evident that he had NO comprehension of the pain)

One that struck me was a woman whose son had a brain tumor and another man that is a cancer survivor. Both struggling to find healthcare and deal with the overwhelming monetary demands and trying to put their lives back together.

They said that they were NOT able to find insurance with these preexisting conditions. It took someone from the AUDIENCE to tell them that help was available to them NOW…that they can’t be denied insurance because of preexisting conditions. HE NEVER TOLD THEM THAT!!!! HE LET THEM HANG AND BLAMED THE HEALTHCARE LAW FOR BEING BAD AND NEEDING FIXING!!!!!!! They were on the other side of the auditorium from me, so I didn’t see who they were…I hope they got the info they SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN FROM HIM, from the people on that side of the room!

WH staffers…if you’re reading this…somehow, someway…you need to make these issues more widely known! These folks are ignorant of the facts, and their Rep was NO HELP to them…

That’s about it…I took 7 pages of notes. Will write to him with my questions. Funny to see the “handlers” there….they are all so fake. You would think the guy had his own SS detail.

Also, got LOTS of pushback regarding wanting to dig up the Grand Canyon to mine uranium…he bought his buddy, fellow idiot, Paul Gosar to the meeting last night. I believe that he’s a medical Dr…funny, how the love of $$$$ makes the health effects of digging uranium, having the run off pollute the drinking water, radon being emitted, people, land, and wildlife harmed means NOTHING to this guy! What a joke. Passions were high for that one……no one agreed with digging there. Thank god.

OMG – what a d–k – Thanks for letting us know how that went! and good for you for talking to that older gentleman. I tell ya, FOX is poison. I think I’ve said this before, sometimes when we go to visit my husbands dad we spend the first couple of days deprogramming him. it’s crazy.

We need to FIX THIS problem….and since I would have expected he would give her clear honest info…HE DID NOT! He has an agenda, you know! It was apparent that the agenda is MORE important than the constituent, in this regard. Shame on him. I hope someone that was yelling from the audience got to them and gave them the info they needed about health care.

Thank you for the report, desertflower. What a tough thing to set thru. It is hard for me to believe all these people don’t understand where their VA, SS, & Medicare come from. You know that Fox doesn’t want people to understand the issues. They want to dumb down America. We are working on education. Keep up the great things you are doing in AZ.

Desert it is plain sad that someone who uses the VA out of all GVT services is happy that Benny the idiot voted against raising the debt ceiling.It’s as if these people are voting against what is working FOR them.

I am happy someone in the crowd let that lady and the man with health issues heard that the HC won’t refuse them help.

If I could make a suggestion to Sebelius it would be for them to print as many pamphlets as possible to ALL 50 states to hospitals and clinics and most of all Community Centers;VA hospitals that the HC will offer you coverage despite preexisting conditions.

People don’t know so the TeaNutz are taking advantage of that and scaring folks :death panels and every other scare tactic they can come up with

DF you are a superstar I swear! So good of you to attempt to set that man straight on the debt ceiling. You done good.. just sitting through the bs these repubs are spinning takes courage imo. Well done, and again congratulations on AZs new Dem mayors.

Great work, Desertflower. You showed once again how important it is to be informed and armed with the facts. The one obvious FOX viewer that you encountered may be too far gone, but you might just have reached someone else who was able to overhear you. It’s amazing how these people don’t realize what their government actually is. That when you vote Republican or support their idea of “small government”, you’re voting for the state not to be able to effectively respond to disasters, or for social security checks to not go out, or for them to decide when you live or die (a la Terry Schiavo), or you’re voting for someone’s child to go to war. They are clueless.

To everyone that responded to my post here…thank you so much for your words of encouragement….LOTS of work yet to be done! I think the idea to let Sebelius know about posting that HC info in ALL the VA’S across the country is great….we need to get the word out. There Is NO excuse for people suffering like this anymore.
It was hard to sit through, but I knew what I was in for before I went….glad that people pushed back and threw the Bullshit flag on him..
Will work on these suggestions this weekend…home for lunch now…so I have to be quick! Many thanks to everyone….knowledge is power! It is the best offense that we have….keep pushing the truth….it WANTS to sink in, it really does :)

Thanks, amk! I was going to post the link for that but you beat me to it. I worked hard on this recall and for GOTV. I was exhausted last night but so happy. I feel like we are beginning to take our state back. Lewis is a Repub but not a crazy bigot. He got lots of Dem support in this race and he knows that he could not have won with out us. We will be watching to see how he does.

There was a lot of outside money and dirty deeds with the Pearce crowd. They fought and tried to cheat their way but they still lost. I think this says something important about just where the voters’ minds are right now.

Even though I’ve always had good hometraining on this blog, you guys being followed by the WH’s people should just continue being yourselves–that’s why they decided to follow you…You were followed because you were bold and unabashed in your support for the President, even though some of y’all need to be steeped in some cold water, but that’s beside the point ;)

TOD has great a group of supporters who are pragmatic, solution driven and are willing to take off their bedroom slippers put on their marching shoes on issues that benefits the American people. . . and if any group, person or media rep is deliberately twisting the facts and misrepresenting the policies of this administration. . . they don’t mind throwing down in the back alley to help re balance the scales.:-)

Maybe they LIKE the wet picture! Ever think of THAT??? :) I know I do! Do me a favor, if they’re following you, please tell them that the messaging on preexisiting conditions for healthcare is getting lost. People are desperate and think they can’t get it…..(see my long post above)
Thank you, M4O !

Or, like kids going on their patents plan at the age of 26, people think it is out of the goodness of Aetna or united healthcare!
They have no idea that these new laws implemented are from the hcr law!
That is why it polls in the 30s!

I so agree with you. The ACA has been in effect for too long for people to not know the details. Perhaps the DNC can take some of that money they’ve accumulated and do a pr blitz highlighting the benefits. Too many are still, some willfully, in the dark as to the true nature of the changes. And not everybody, most notably the poor and the elderly, have immediate access to the net to visit the WH site, to get the facts. As I say, lazy people make life hard.

I’ll never forget 2010: we got information from the government on Medicare changes the Thursday before the election, after millions had already voted. the best kept secret was how much seniors were getting from ACA immediately. No one knew.

Were they afraid the Republicans would call it ‘playing politics’ and it should be charged to the campaign if the Federal government actually informed Medicare recipients about the benefits they would start receiving in 2011 from ACA? Was it a better choice to NOT inform voters, after watching the Summer From Hell run by the tea party?

I’m hoping these lessons have been learned. The atmosphere from last night’s election was that a robust, righteous message is inspiring. Rachel Maddow said that it helps when people ‘have a reason to vote.’ Now I think stopping Republicans is reason enough in the generational fight that we’re in and there is no excuse for Dem’s not voting — ever. But we cannot ignore the fact that there was grass roots inspriration that helped a great deal last night. I watch OWS with trepidation — they can tip into ridiculousness at any minute. But that kind of intensity and passion can and should work to our benefit.

people have a reason to vote, alright. If they don’t, they get to be ruled by insane wingnuts. How is that for a reason ? Moralistic, rich preachers like maddow never get to suffer the consequence of non-voting and so just STFU.

Karl rove is panicking- crossroads buys 2.6 million dollar cable time in battleground states.
He is comparing this president with bill clintons tax plan.
That is a waste of money. Rove is losing his touch! Lol!

Is he really? That’s great news. Go ahead and remind Americans that Bill Clinton raised taxes and the economy prospered. (I, for one, do not credit Bill Clinton for making that all happen, although I’m sure he credits himself. But the timing was right, that’s for sure. And higher taxes lowered the deficit and the economy prospered just dandy).

“Go ahead and remind Americans that Bill Clinton raised taxes and the economy prospered.” Democrats should welcome this. By the way, for all the PL critics of President Obama, Clinton was able to raise taxes with only the votes of 50 Senators plus VP, Al Gore, who cast the tie breaker in his role as President of the Senate. If Clinton faced this ugly teabag-Republican party that filibusters everything he would not have been able to enact his economic measures that are widely praised today.

November 09, 2011 9:25 AM
Cain shifts his blame to the ‘Democrat machine’

When news first broke that Herman Cain had been accused of sexual harassment, the Republican presidential candidate first blamed the media. Then he blamed liberals. Soon after, he shifted the blame to unnamed racists. Then his campaign blamed GOP rival Rick Perry.

Yesterday, the strange candidate found someone new to blame: the “Democrat machine.”

Herman Cain, the embattled Republican candidate for president, convened a nationally televised news conference Tuesday in which he insisted that he is innocent of all sexual harassment accusations, even as another woman put her name to allegations that he had approached her inappropriately.

Mr. Cain blamed the ballooning scandal on a “Democrat machine” and, anticipating calls to end his presidential run, he declared that “ain’t going to happen because I’m doing this for the American people and for the children and the grandchildren. And I will not be deterred by false, anonymous, incorrect accusations.”

The Republ8can Party will never take responsibility for their actions. This can be summed up like this – Even though 9/11 happened on President Bush’s watch, the Republican Party blames 9/11 on President Bill Clinton. Even though it was President Obama who focused like a laser to capture OBL, the Bush administration says they deserve credit. That’s how they roll.

The eight years of the Bush administration was a disaster for this country. The Republican Party spent like drunken sailors. There was no oversight and no accountability. President Bush got what he wanted carte blanche. They squandered the surplus left by President Clinton. They used unscrupulous accounting tricks, the put wars, tax cuts for the rich, and medicate part D on the credit card. They left incredible wreckage and debt for President Obama to unravel. Now they are blaming President Obama for not cleaning up their mess quick enough. Again, that’s how they roll.

What’s beautiful about Mitch McConnell being in the Senate until 2014, is that he’ll have to live for another two years knowing that he failed in his mission to make President Obama a one-term-president. That will be delicious karma!

I wouldn’t know as I try not to spike my pressure looking at that vile creature. I’m still waiting for Karma to catch up with he and all the others who would like nothing more than to see PBO dead, and I say this literally.

I wonder if they considered selling a calendar featuring “All the President’s Men.”

I am sure that the calendar would generate some serious revenue but that concept is probably not something the President would support. Now another option would be if one of you talented TODers would create a calendar that could be downloaded as a gift for each donor that makes a donation of $25.00 or more as an incentive during a specific money bomb period. Curious to know how much money would be raised during that cycle.

They could do a calendar featuring a picture of a signing ceremony from that month in the past three years or commemorative moment. In Jan – Inauguration photo, Feb – anniversary of Stimulus Plan, March – health care signature, April….etc. I’d buy that – could be something to hold onto.

I don’t comment here often because usually someone else has voiced my opinion, but I do appreciate the hard work that goes into this blog. It lifts my spirits everyday to watch this awesome man in action and I thank all of you for making this effort. This is democracy in action!

Just thought I’d join in the good news for NJ. Christie’s influence helped no one. Despite the tons of money spent and the really nasty ads, the state house remains in dem hands with basically incumbents in both parties winning. It would have been nice to be able to get enough votes to overturn his vetoes, but the fact his campaigning went no where is satisfying.

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan and NATO-led troops killed 50 to 60 Taliban fighters during an attack by insurgents on a base in a volatile southeastern Afghan province near the border with Pakistan, a provincial government spokesman said on Wednesday.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed there had been an attack on a base in the Barmal district of southeastern Paktika province late on Tuesday.

As I’ve been saying all along: This Cain candidacy & scandal is a Koch brother’s distraction – Romney is in fact their nominee….

/// Cain’s candidacy and promotion by Charles and David Koch is a smoke screen because Herman is never going to win the Republican nomination whether the sexual harassment charges prove false or not. Herman serves two purposes for the Republicans and their masters at Koch Industries. First, Republicans are using Cain to show they are not racists, and second, even though Cain is ahead in some polling, his idiocy serves the purpose of making Willard Romney or Dick Perry look like mainstream, reasonable candidates. However, Romney and Perry are also closely aligned with the Koch brother’s political ideology of reducing corporate tax rates and giving the wealthy lower taxes than the Bush-Republicans. Romney said this summer that, “I love a flat tax,” and Perry has proposed his own flat tax plan that benefits the wealthy and corporations. In 1996 Romney denounced Steve Forbes flat tax proposals as “a tax cut for fat cats,” but since he is pandering for Koch support as a presidential candidate, he suddenly loves them; and they love Willard. ///

NEW YORK — The NAACP is joining with minority and labor groups for a series of protests around the country meant to move discussion of voter identification laws out of policy circles and onto street corners, the organization’s president said Tuesday.

Benjamin Todd Jealous appeared on the steps of New York City Hall with the Rev. Al Sharpton, U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel and community and labor leaders to announce plans for nationwide protests on Dec. 10 and across the South in the following weeks, decrying what they described as a nationwide voter suppression effort.

The rallies are “intended to get this conversation out of the thought leader class and down to the street corners, so folks understand that their rights are being attacked,” Jealous said, adding that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People had already raised millions of dollars to support its campaign.

ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek party leaders have agreed on house speaker Filippos Petsalnikos to head the country’s new coalition government, barring any last-minute changes, sources from the two major parties said on Wednesday.

“We have agreed on Petsalnikos but things can change between now and when the prime minister sees the president,” a source close to the discussions between the ruling Socialists and the conservative opposition New Democracy told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Good Morning TOD’ers…..WOW, we have so muched to be both happy and releived about this morning…..and yet we need to keep on keepin on.
Missed the play by play yesterday because of on going problems with my PC. It is still acting up so I am taking it in to be hopefully repaired today.
It is going to drive me nuts not knowing what is going on, but as soon as I can I’ll rejoin the ‘fight.’

Isontheprize….I was so moved and excited for both you and your son, a very handsome and composed young man…..what an experience. But it sounds to me like it was well earned, thank you so much for all that you do. That goes for everyone else as well. I am always inspired, uplifted and motivated by the members of this community. Yesterday, unity and human decency prevailed (AZ….woot!) Let’s continue to stand for one another, for fairness and equality and human dignity, it shouldn’t be such a struggle….but as long as it is we have to stay in the fight.

I did try to connect through Twitter with Alice, VC, Theo and Sherijr…….when I get this computer running properly I’ll be bugging you guys for some Twitter support, I hope that you have an abundance of patience ;) you will probably need it.

Those of you that are struggling with health issues or personal loses I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. HZ, you especially take care of yourself…..you are a guiding light for so many of us here, we need you healthy and hale.

Chica, how do we help support you as your ‘baby’ here is garnering more and more attention and newcomers with which demands on your time no doubt increase. I worry about the increasing demands this well deserved attention can mean for you personally. Never was a worry wart before TOD’ers….but seems I’ve turned into one now.

Keith….DUDE way to help rock the vote in Ohio, I now you have put lots of energy into this effort, which makes it’s success even more meaningful to me. Thank you.

Be well all, I will get this sick computer of mine fixed, keep up the great work, continue to support and inspire each other because PBO needs us, just as America needs him. YES.WE.CAN.2012

As an hispanic/Native American and 7th generation Arizonan I was more than elated at Russell Pearce’s defeat. I screamed, yelled, and cried that a red state could actually reject a man whose draconian policies were bad for not only Arizona but for people around the country. I hope this sends a strong message to other states that when it comes to push and shove, the American people will speak loud and clear at the voting booth.

I recorded the show and watched it and I have to tell you Chips, Nate Berkus was too close for comfort with my man. I loved the whole interview though and it’s a keeper on my DVR. Love Nate Berkus. :smile:

We needed these victories to inspire us. I am so grateful to all the folks here at the blog that made phone calls, went door to door, and talked to neighbors and friends about the issues. Yes WE can. You are an inspiration to us all.

2. If you have a bit more energy to spare – call one of these guys. They are the same Senators who voted for infrastructure in the past – but voted against it last week. When calling, if you need an address google real estate in that state.

To follow up on my previous post i would like to send out Press ON buttons and magnets to everyone who worked for issues in the battleground state elections that were held yesterday. Arizona, Ohio, Mississippi, New Jersey, what states did I miss?

Send me an email with your name, address and a brief description of what you did, the goodies will be mailed this weekend. If you have forgotten how cute they are – you can see them here.

i got them all right. Wasn’t quite certain on the map question but I used common sense and got lucky. These were easy questions but if you don’t follow politics it would have been hard. Before Pres. Obama ran for the WH I was a very low info voter. I heard names but would not be able to point them out in a line up. Now I can.

This is reminding me of Catholic school in the ’60s, and my humiliation the time I failed my first test. Most of the kids failed that test, so the teacher made us all stand up around the perimeter of the room so she could berate us for “not studying.”

I got 100% (scraped by on the map questions), but what shocks me is how few know some of the more critical answers about things that apparently are uppermost in people’s minds. Not knowing which chamber is ruled by the GOP. Not knowing history-making Sonia Sotomayor. Not knowing the Fed Chairman. If this election is about the economy, is critical for the future of the Supreme Court, and pivotal for driving Republicans out of power where they are doing enormous damage – then more work to educate the public is needed over the next 12 months.

As we are all celebrating the various wins today, let me add how THRILLED I am
how things went down in my state…NJ. The post from Rikyrah above was very informative. Thank you.
I see Dems held on to the legislature even after all of Christie’s bloviating and backdoor Koch Bros.
deals. And the news on the redistricting not being allowed in their favor was also music to my ears.

Lesson learned for me again. Sometimes I think, going out to help make calls etc…does that make a differene?
But results like this say every little bit helps. And each person’s contribution no matter how small,can
all add up to big cumulative victories. Our President has taught us well. I will always be his student..never
had a better professor in my life.

meta, I totally agree about the White House website. The whitehouse.gov website is an incredible resource for the American people to understand what the Obama administration is doing on their behalf. But like you, I don’t get the impression that many Americans are making use of the site. It would be great if the American people could at least sign up for the email updates.

During the Bush administration, I could count on one hand the number of times I logged on to whitehouse.gov Today, whitehouse.gov is my home page. And I continue to be amazed at the initiatives and projects that are being implemented on a daily basis. The White House is a beehive of activity. While the Republican Party is obstructing, the White House is governing and trying to improve the lives of the American people. It’s all about doing what is right for the common good.

Not only should more Americans be logging on to whitehouse.gov, it might he helpful if the jackals and gasbags did the same. They might learn something.

Yes! I would encourage everyone in the year ahead to email, FB and tweet elements of whitehouse.gov so your friends and family can see for themselves how transparent PBO’s administration is, especially in comparison to past administrations.

Yesterday I tweeted about We the People, West Wing Week and Pete Souza’s Picture of the Day and Flickr page along with links to each. The information and images are powerful. Today I banged away about the SAVE Award and will continue to choose to highlight things from the site to get people to see it and experience the wealth of info available at our fingertips.

The blog on Whitehouse.gov is priceless, too. They put lots of relevant and timely info, links to resources, and sometimes cheeky commentary up there. I post stuff to Facebook and tweet from there often.

Tien, I agree with you 100% about the importance of recruiting good candidates. I also think that the lesson from Ohio is that active engagement in voting in local and state elections is extremely important. We must start being serious about people we elect to school boards, city councils, county government, state legislatures and state offices. We must figure out a way of motivating Democrats to turn out in greater numbers than now whenever there are local and state elections.

“California has hit a major renewable energy milestone: 1 gigawatt — or 1,000 megawatts — of solar power has been installed on rooftops throughout the state, according to a report to be released Wednesday by Environment California, a statewide advocacy group.
One gigawatt is roughly the size of two coal-fired power plants and is enough energy to power 750,000 homes.

Five countries have hit the 1 gigawatt installation mark to date: Germany, Spain, Japan, Italy and the Czech Republic. California has installed more solar power than France, China and Belgium.”

The Koch Brothers tried to stop this progress when they bankrolled Proposition 23 during the 2010 election cycle:

“Four years ago, bipartisan majorities in the California Legislature approved a landmark clean energy bill that many hoped would serve as a template for a national effort to reduce dependence on foreign oil and mitigate the threat of climate change.

Now a well-financed coalition of right-wing ideologues, out-of-state oil and gas companies and climate-change skeptics is seeking to effectively kill that law with an initiative on the November state ballot. The money men include Charles and David Koch, the Kansas oil and gas billionaires who have played a prominent role in financing the Tea Party movement.”

We wholeheartedly rejected Prop 23., Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina in one election cycle. It was a thing of beauty.

The hits keep coming. Yesterday the Koch-flavored legislation in Ohio to kill collective bargaining was killed. Yes, the Koch brothers won a big battle when they won the House. Ever since that passing political moment, their political fortunes are starting to change. They awakened a sleeping giant that has manifested itself in the Occupy movement and the referendum yesterday.

We the people outnumber the two Koch brothers and they’re looking a little less invincible these days.

I’m very upset with Chipsticks and my TOD family members because you all convinced me to activate and use my idle Twitter account, and now, I cant stop tweeting and reading tweets! I love Twitter! I had had my account for over a year but had never used it until you all encouraged me to do so. I’m now an official Twitter addict!! Thanks, guys!!

Afternoon, TOD family. Sooooooo happy about Ohio, MS, AZ and the other places where Dems turned out and won. But I need a virtual hug today because our woman Democratic candidate for mayor in Indianapolis lost the incompetent republican. This stupid mayor was invited to the WH shortly after Pres Obama was elected and refused to go saying “I don’t do celebrity.” When asked about unemployment in the AA community during a debate, this stupid mayor called AA’s “a difficult population.” He sold off city assets like our water rights to private companies, he is just awful. The only silver lining is that we voted in a Dem city council so he no longer has his rubber stamp council. I hope they give him hell.

I worked the polls and it was so apparent that republicans truly don’t want people to vote. (Not saying anything we don’t already know.) This republican I was working with wanted to challenge everybody who came to vote, even when they had ID. She parroted the talking point about there being so much fraud in elections. I told her that was just a falsehood that study after study had not proved to be true. And we fought back her challenges so people could vote. It really made me angry,

Anyway, again so happy for the good news elsewhere. Can’t wait to hear my President speak this evening. I need to hear his voice.

Aw, hon…{{{BIG BIG BIG HUG}}} I can’t imagine how badly you must be feeling. I hate it when my candidates lose, but your loss sounds particularly keen. Sold off the water rights?! WTH? I’d be needing more than a hug, girlfriend. Apply chocolate AND alcohol.

All this is scary. Montana is purple. I live in Missoula which is very liberal. We just voted off all conservatives and voted to ask for a Constitutional Amendment to get ride of corporate personhood. It will be a very hard fight to keep Tester as a Senator and a Dem governor next year. I am ready to fight. Thank goodness for the family here at TOD.